The Heartbeats Behind The Words
by Kyndraeonsis
Summary: The Battle of Hogwarts is over, now little more than a fresh memory in the minds of the survivors. Hermione and Luna are some of the only ones to remain there to complete their studies. As the pair grow closer, they are finally able to confess why they are so precious to one another.


It had not been easy to settle back into the humdrum of Hogwarts, in no small part due to the fact that the Hogwarts that Hermione was accustomed to did not truly exist anymore.  
The eldritch scars of rubble in the courtyard and the loss of some of her familiar routes were easy enough to adapt to, but every encounter she had with a remnant of the battle reminded her of what she had truly lost. All the old familiar faces.  
There was no more Dumbledore to raise the students spirits, there was no Snape to constantly test her patience and competence.  
And while she had accepted that Harry and Ron were unlikely to retake the Seventh Year like she had, she missed their idle chatter, their silly behaviour and the maternal admonishments she had become accustomed to providing.  
Even the likes of Ginny had decided that Hogwarts was not their place.  
Which left one person, who had decided to remain.  
Luna.

It had taken a while for the pair to find their footing with each other, and Hermione was all too willing to turn her disdain for rudeness on herself whenever she recalled her introduction of Luna as "Loony Lovegood".  
However they had found themselves bonding quite naturally over the course of the year, like kindred spirits. They bonded initially over their endless debates on the existence of Wrackspurts and Nargles, and other creatures that seemed only to dwell Luna's bizarre imaginary menagerie.  
Nowadays, while those debates still happened regularly enough, they found themselves with more common ground than they initially expected, and the nature of their discussions changed focus to how much Hogwarts had changed, how little Hogwarts had changed, and a mutual love of one particular room...

The Hogwarts Library, during their time there the labyrinth of knowledge had been a sanctuary for the both of them it seemed, and it spoke to its size that the two had never paid too much notice to the others presence over the years. Luna's areas of interest tended to find her drifting closer to the restricted section than Hermione was comfortable going, at least without good reason. Nonetheless, the solitude of the hall spoke invitingly to them both, it was an oasis where one could lose themselves in the musty scent and truly immerse themselves in the swirls and scribings of ink upon parchment.  
It felt...

Tranquil.

Timeless.

Beautiful.

"Musty is such a miserable word, don't you think?"

It was in the moment after she realised that Luna was not a Death Eater, and probably did not need an advanced text on Transfiguration thrown into her head, that Hermione realised this moment of Luna's was startlingly indicative of their entire relationship up to this point.  
She would always emerge when she least expected it.  
She had an ethereal quality that made her seem more fictitious than any book in the library.  
But most importantly, she always made Hermione think, and about the most peculiar things...  
"It is a little... demeaning, now that I'm thinking about it."  
Luna nodded with her usual airy grace, only half within the reality in which this conversation was taking place, yet still giving it her full attention.  
"It sounds like dust, which is silly, like the books are too old, that they'll going to crumble away in our hands, that they are going to start choking us when they do. But stories don't crumble, and neither does the truth, so it shouldn't matter whether they're old, so its silly, isn't it?"  
It was a genuine question, and prompted Hermione to gently put down her book, her curiosity piqued. There weren't many people who could be more intriguing with their observations than the authors Hermione was drawn to, and even fewer who could outclass "The True Art of Transmutation" in that regard.

Luna was one of a kind.

"I always liked it, but then I think that's because its the only word we really have that can really describe the scent of the books"  
Luna nodded vigorously.  
"Exactly, what we need is a new word. A nice word. A beautiful one."  
"Do you have one?"  
She shook her head.  
"No... You need the right feeling to come up with a word, like a wand, or a dance, the two need to feel together or..."  
"...or we end up with musty, a word that only feels right because we need it to."

Luna beamed at that response, before it mellowed into a serene smile, Hermione thought she could detect a trace of sadness in it as Luna settled herself down next to Hermione and the nest of books she had made in one of the dead ends of the library.  
They sat next to each other in a comfortable silence for a moment, both focused intently upon finding the right word.  
Hermione smiled, Luna was almost like Harry and Ron in her ability to draw her away on ridiculous adventures, though with Luna it was less out of a need to help her friends and more out a genuine want, a desire to explore a world within her that only Luna seemed able to bring her to.  
She looked to Luna for a second, who had sealed her eyes and lifted her head up towards the sky (or the ceiling).

"It's like dancing in the rain...  
Sweet and calm, when the droplets feel just right and everything else around you just melts away..."  
Hermione paused for a moment.  
It felt familiar.  
She shut her eyes, intently concentrating on a word she had seen a log time ago...  
"Biblichor."  
Luna brought her head back down, staring into the distance with a furrowed brow, and mouthed the world, moving it around with her tongue, as though she was testing the fit.  
"Where did you find that?"  
"I remembered seeing it somewhere before, I think its a Muggle word..."  
"It's perfect, thank you!"  
Luna brightened up like a star, and threw her arms around Hermione in a short, sweet, but extremely tight hug. Hermione was still startled by hug, but responded with a humble smile.  
"Don't thank me, it's not my word."  
"You didn't make your wand, that doesn't mean it isn't yours."  
Hermione's smile grew, Luna had hugged her so tightly she could feel her heart beating, and every pulse of gratitude she had sent to her.  
She loved these little talks she had with Luna, so precious and sweet, and she wished she could share the gratitude she had for Luna and her presence at Hogwarts, for the parts of herself that Luna had revealed to her, she wished she could radiate it as much as Luna was...

And her smile sunk as her gaze dropped down to the floor between her and Luna.  
Luna must have felt it, because she had placed a soothing hand on Hermione's shoulder, using it as a crutch to lean down and hover just above her lap, and tilting her head up to see Hermione's grimace. Hermione allowed herself a solitary chuckle at Luna's bizarre posture, like a curious bat, but Luna's eyes grew tender and serious, imploring Hermione to tell her what was wrong.

"Nothing really, I just wish that... that I had told you something sooner."  
Rather than ask the obvious question, Luna settled back into a more comfortable position, her eyes totally fixed on Hermione as she turned back to Luna, looking directly at Luna as she spoke.

"Thank you.  
Really, genuinely, thank you.  
I know we never knew each other properly before now, but I honestly can't tell you how grateful I am that we do."

Luna was still, unresponsive. She wasn't dismissive of what was being said, but she seemed unwilling to accept her praise of her.  
Hermione caught a brief murmur, almost bitter in sound.  
"Why?"

Hermione paused for a moment, cautious, carefully selecting specific words to convey her meaning as genuinely as she could.

"Because... I never understood why I was never put into Ravenclaw. I never understood it.  
Gryffindor was wonderful. But everyone I spoke to, even Harry and Ron, they all thought that Ravenclaw was where I belonged. And so did I.  
But meeting you, talking to you, now.  
I understand why I wasn't.  
I spent my life trying to be as smart as possible, to master all the magic I could.  
But, for all the books I have read, I have never been wise.  
Because that's not how wisdom works.  
You don't find it in the pages of a book, you have to go out and live.  
I never understood that wisdom is discovered, not learned.  
But you discovered it Luna. You were the wisest of all of us.  
You could see so much more than the rest of us.  
You saw more of ourselves than even we knew about.  
And since we started speaking now, I have learned more about myself from you than I could ever have hoped to."  
It was an emotionally exhausting speech, but there was a warmth just beneath her heart, a soothing catharsis, that had her smile at Luna so sweetly.  
Just as tears were pooling in Luna's eyes.

"Hermione Granger..."

Hermione placed a tender hand on Luna's upper arm.

"Hermione Granger... you silly girl.  
Of course you are wise."

Luna's raw eyes looked directly at Hermione, brushing her shining white hair to the side as she continued.  
"Of course you are wise, that's why the hat put you in Gryffindor. You never needed to go to Ravenclaw, you didn't need to learn it from us. You're just as wise as I am, or anyone else is.  
You just needed to learn how to share it.  
To learn... not to be alone."

Luna's tears were drying, just as Hermione felt on the edge of shedding her own.  
They embraced, diving into each others arms and wrapping them tightly around the other. The last tender act necessary for fresh tears stroking both their cheeks as they held each other.  
The warmth they felt within the hug dismissing any thoughts of ever letting the other go.  
Luna murmured a question.

"...Hermione?"

"...Yes Luna?

"You said I taught you something.  
What did I teach you?"

Hermione just smiled.

"Luna, my dear. You taught me that the world can be a beautiful place, if you let yourself see it that way. And that's just it really. Hope can be incredibly hard for someone like me to justify. It isn't always easy to find a lot of evidence to support the conclusion that we should hope. But that doesn't mean that the evidence isn't out there, even if we don't find it. Just because something might not be there does not mean it is not worth looking for..."

Hermione paused, swallowing a surge of anxiety, and whispered softly in Luna's ear.

"...If it's something worth finding."

They loosened the hug just enough for them to look back at each other.  
They could feel the soothing warmth of the others breath brush against their skin, melding within the air before them, their pulses quickening as they noted their closeness, as they immersed themselves in the other's eyes. Drowning in marvellous wellsprings of colour and beauty as they stared, so deeply that they could see their own eyes reflected, all shining with the same anxiety, the same dread.

The same hope.

And in that same instant, they moved their lips to each other.

Luna's kiss was cool, calm, serene, savouring every stroke, every precious contact.  
Hermione's was warm and soft, pouring every mote of love she had into the unity of their lips.  
Time began to melt away as they felt the other's smile beneath the caress of their lips.  
Hermione brushed her hand into Luna's radiant white hair, deftly washing her hand through the shining stands, feeling her beloved Luna hum with joy at her the trail of her fingers.

After an eternity entwined with Luna, Hermione felt the kiss break away, only for Luna to continue to peck her, once upon the forehead, down to the tip of her nose as she moved back down to Hermione's lips, kissing every inch of Hermione's face that she could.  
There was no lust in their movements, no insatiable hunger to satisfy.  
It was unbridled love.  
It was pure, chaste, and lovely.  
And they knew, that it always would be.


End file.
